DECADES-LONG BATTLE:DPP Legislator Kolas Yotaka called for the passage of an amendment to remove the distinction between ‘plains’ and ‘mountain’ Aborigines
Taipei Times
Date: Jul 19, 2016
By: Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
Aboriginal divisions over giving recognition to members of Pingpu Aboriginal communities were
Aboriginal rights advocates demonstrate outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Friday last week, calling on the government to recognize the Pingpu Aboriginal community and include them in the transitional justice process. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
yesterday on full display at a Legislative Yuan forum, with Aboriginal legislators sparring over how such recognition should be accomplished, while many legislators declined to attend.
“The Status Act for Indigenous Peoples (原住民身分法) has us by the throat, making it impossible for us to do anything,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kolas Yotaka, who is Amis, said at a Legislative Yuan forum on restoring Pingpu status and rights hosted by the Pingpu Aboriginal Status and Rights Restoration Working Group and the Tainan Siraya Village Development Promotion Association.
“Pingpu” is a general term used for Aboriginal communities that inhabited lowland regions of western Taiwan, with strong assimilation pressure from Chinese immigrants over centuries causing them to largely lose their ancestral languages and lifestyles.
While members of Pingpu communities have fought for official recognition for decades, only members of the Kavalan people have succeeded, winning recognition from the Executive Yuan in 2002. [FULL STORY]
